Twelve years ago I was new to the town where I currently live, and I knew almost nobody.  It was hard to meet people back then – I had no kids and my husband and I both worked in other towns.  My family and a bunch of my friends were still back in Vermont, where I started my career with a door and hardware distributor.  My coworkers at Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies (yes, I have worked at IR for almost 19 years!!) were wonderful, but they were busy with their families (I used to babysit their kids and take care of their pets).  I remember signing up for classes just to try to find some friends – cooking, roller blading, line dancing…you name it.  Are you getting the picture?  I was desperate to connect with someone I had something in common with.

When my first daughter was a few months old, I met Karen, who had a daughter exactly 1 month younger (3 years later we had boys 1 week apart).  She asked “what do you do” and I said I was a hardware consultant.  She said, “ME TOO!!!”  Excited incredulity ensued, until I came to my senses and realized that if Karen was a DOOR hardware consultant, I would already know her – the world of hardware is a very small one.  Karen’s job was actually in computer hardware – she worked for IBM.  We decided to be friends anyway.

Last spring, Karen went on a business trip – something like Orlando-Hong Kong-England.  When she got home she called me to tell me all about the AMAZING hardware she saw at IBM’s briefing center in England, called Hursley House.  She said, “It’s just like Downton Abbey!”  I LOVE Downton Abbey (it’s a show on PBS if you’ve been living in a cave for the past few years).  Always looking for interesting doors to share with y’all, I said that I couldn’t wait to see the photos of the doors and hardware at Hursley House.  Karen: “My camera battery died.”  I think she had one blurry iPhone photo.  That’s.  It.

Luckily, Hursley House has a small museum with a very patient curator, who was willing to work with Jess Madden (editor of Doors & Hardware) to share some photos and history about Hursley House, and especially the doors and hardware.  DHI gave me permission to share them with you, so you can download the complete article here, or click the images below to enlarge.

Enjoy the last little bit of summer, and remember…if you see some fabulous doors, don’t tell me about them unless you have photos for me.  🙂

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